You’ve consistently been at the forefront of first-party data and omnichannel monetization/ What was an early moment in your career when you realized data would fundamentally reshape how media is bought and sold?Now as SVP, Global Head of Commerce & Retail Media Networks at Acxiom under Omnicom Group, what excites you most about operating at a global scale versus building a single network from the ground up?You’re known for building multi-functional teams and scalable organizations from scratch. What part of that building process energizes you the most the strategy, the talent development, the revenue acceleration, or the technology innovation?When you look back at that journey, what gave you the conviction that hospitality could become a powerful media channel?You spend a lot of time thinking about leadership and potential. What are you personally most excited about unlocking next in the industry and in yourself? 

Retail media has evolved incredibly quickly over the last few years, but the conversation has also become far more financially scrutinized. From your perspective, what phase is the industry actually entering now?A lot of retailers rushed to launch retail media networks, but many are now discovering that building ad inventory is very different from building a scalable media business. What are the biggest structural mistakes you see retailers making today?Brands continue shifting budget into retail media, but many executives are starting to question incrementality, duplication, and measurement consistency across networks. What are brands asking for now that they were not asking for even 18 months ago?One of the biggest tensions in retail media right now is the relationship between trade spend and media spend. How do you think CFOs and commercial leaders should be reevaluating the role retail media plays inside the broader P&L?As Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart continue to scale, what does the future look like for mid-sized and regional retail media networks? Do you see consolidation coming, or are there areas where smaller RMNs can still build defensible advantages?

Content has traditionally been treated as a creative output, but increasingly it is being measured like a performance variable. From your perspective, what has fundamentally changed?Many brands produce enormous amounts of creative content but still struggle to understand what actually drives conversion. Where do you think organizations are getting disconnected from the consumer?One thing that stands out right now is the growing pressure to produce more content, across more platforms, at much higher speed. How should executives think about balancing creative quality, consistency, and operational scale?AI-generated content is accelerating rapidly, but it also raises questions around differentiation, authenticity, and performance saturation. What do you think separates effective AI-enabled content strategies from ineffective ones?Looking ahead, do you think content intelligence becomes as measurable and operationalized as pricing or media optimization, and how does that change the role of creative organizations inside brands?

Vinny, the 'Trifecta' measurement strategy isn't a new concept, yet most brands still can't bridge the gap between brand and commerce. In your experience, what is the most essential first step to breaking down those organizational silos and finally unifying measurement?"How are you thinking about short vs. long term ROI when it comes to investing in brand vs commerce media networks? Especially as it relates to onsite and offsite digital media buys with RMNs. What’s your way to assess incrementality and how hard a dollar is truly working for Hershey’s bottom line?Vinny, you truly put the business first, always thinking about what’s best for Hershey. Can you share a bit about how you’ve thought about the economics regardless of funding source and the depth of your relationship with the Chief Sales Officer?As you think about the future, the rise of more sophisticated commerce media network offering, there is a temptation by many brands to think about 1;1 closed loop measurement. However your philosophy is quite different - embracing the need to triangulate decisions using ROI, signal-based data, and 'control vs. exposed' groups. How have you been able to convince your organization there’s a better way forward…and really modernize measurement with agentic AI Hershey is consistently at the cutting edge of measurement. How does this sophistication influence your media and commerce partnerships?

What leaders must understand now 4 the shifts in market structure, regulation, or competitive dynamics that demand attention this week.What Leaders Are Getting Wrong? Default assumptions under pressure. The conventional wisdom that no longer holds and the blind spots that create exposure.What to change in the next days. Concrete, tactical adjustments grounded in what operators are actually doing. Planning Implications? How plans should adjust. Connecting weekly signals to annual planning cycles and budget architecture.Executive Close One operator takeaway. One board takeaway. Clarity that travels from the briefing into the boardroom.

Can you tell us about your journey? What first drew you into eCommerce and analytics and how did those early experiences shape the way you approach digital transformation today?You’ve worked across so many countries and markets. What have you noticed about consumer behavior? Does it really change a lot or are there surprising similarities everywhere?At PepsiCo, you lead eCommerce Strategy and Transformation for the GCC. What has been the most exciting part of driving digital change for a global brand in that region?How do you approach connecting eCommerce with other parts of the business at PepsiCo, like marketing, supply chain, and overall business strategy, especially in a fast moving consumer goods environment?Looking forward, what excites you the most about the future of eCommerce and digital transformation at PepsiCo and beyond

To what degree is advertising slowly turning into short term, performance driven marketing, and are brands sacrificing long term equity for immediate return on investment?Retail media has brought advertising directly to the point of purchase. Does this represent the ultimate evolution of marketing efficiency, or the narrowing of brand building into pure conversion mechanics?Agentic commerce and large language model driven discovery are beginning to reshape how consumers find and buy products. How fundamentally will these technologies change the structure of commerce?If artificial intelligence systems increasingly mediate discovery and decision making, will brands need to optimize more for algorithms than for human emotion, and what does that mean for differentiation?Are we at an inflection point where technology is redefining the balance of power between brands, platforms, and consumers, and who stands to gain the most in this next phase of commerce?

You’ve built BTR Media into a 9-figure business with a 95%+ client retention rate — without chasing growth for growth’s sake. What has been the hardest part of scaling while staying true to your people-first and relationship-first philosophy?You describe BTR as the “Ritz-Carlton of Amazon Advertising.” What does that look like in practice, both for your clients and your team?You’re passionate about helping others overcome limiting beliefs. What’s one limiting belief you personally had to break through as a founder, and how did it change the way you lead today?The future of retail media: With retail media growing across Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart, where do you see the biggest white space opportunities for brands to stand out in the next 2–3 years?What are you most excited about right now — for yourself, your clients, and for the retail media industry as a whole?What’s one message you’d like to leave our listeners with today? 

You focus on building strategies that start with understanding the consumer. How has putting the consumer at the center of your decisions shaped your most successful digital initiatives?Brands today operate across retail, pure-play eCommerce, and DTC channels. What are the biggest challenges in creating a seamless experience, and how do you approach solving them?With your experience in performance marketing and advanced measurement, how do you blend data insights with creative strategy to drive meaningful growth?From launching high-converting storefronts to testing new digital platforms, what have been the most important lessons in scaling digital initiatives effectively?If viewers remember one key insight or piece of advice from this conversation, what would you want it to be?

You've had quite an unconventional path into retail media — you came in from the vendor side, not from ad tech or media agencies. Can you walk us through that journey and what ultimately led you to building Topsort? A lot of retailers are now a few years into their first retail media network and starting to ask hard questions about whether the technology they built on is actually going to take them where they need to go. What are you seeing out there, and what does it really cost a retailer to get that foundation wrong?One thing that stands out about Topsort is the emphasis on experimentation — real A/B testing — at the infrastructure level. Why does that matter so much, and when you add AI-driven optimization into the mix, what do you think a retail media network starts to look like that's genuinely different from what most people are running today?From the brand side, there's a lot of budget flowing into retail media right now but also a lot of frustration. What are CPG brands asking for that most networks still can't deliver — and how should brand leaders be thinking about holding their retail partners accountable in a way that's different from how they evaluated trade spend?With Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart continuing to mature as networks, there's a real question about whether mid-market and regional retailers can stay competitive for brand dollars. What's your honest view on where this market goes — and where do you think independent RMNs actually have a structural advantage?